Bay area eats!

I’m sure you guessed with my last entry that I was out of town.

The past week I was at a multi-media workshop at Berkeley’s Knight Digital Media Center. Our sessions were super intense – we were working from 9am to about 9pm. I learned a lot and can’t wait to put into action all the skills I learned. Don’t worry, it wasn’t all work and no play. Towards the end of my trip I had a chance to explore.

First up, my friend took me to his favorite taco truck in Oakland. He thinks it’s the one that Anthony Bourdain might have gone to during his Bay area episode. I’m not sure if this was the one but I can definitely tell you it was really good.

The tacos were slightly smaller than the Los Angeles tacos but it was really flavorful. My friend talked me into getting the al pastor, pollo, asada, and carnitas… yes, FOUR tacos. And yes, they were all very good. Afterwards, we went to Cafe Van Kleef to meet some friends for drinks and I had the tastiest greyhound. I am not a fan of grapfruit and this place made me craving more. Well done.

On my last day, I went to the Berkeley Farmers Market. It’s not as big as the farmers’ market in San Francisco but it has a lot of character and I discovered some awesome bakeries.

One of the reasons I love this time of year is because of all the fruits in seasons… strawberries, cherries, apricots… My senses were going on overdrive just walking around and smelling all the sweet fruits tasting all the flavors.

Walking around, I got a little hungry and found this bakery booth. The first thing that caught my eyes was this shortbread sandwich. The baker said the cookie cutout is an antique she found.

What I ended up getting was this salted praline brownie. I felt a bit guilty eating it because it was basically my breakfast that day. There was a nice salty/sweet aftertaste after the first sugur rush bite.

I washed that brownie down with this homemade yogurt with blueberries. It was super creamy so I don’t think it was too healthy but it was worth it. The best part is that the yogurt stand charged a fee for their reusable containers.

I can’t wait to hit up the LA farmer’s market for some tasty treats. Perhaps I’ll make another tart!